The 3 Best Note-Taking Apps for Chromebooks 2020 (Take Note of These!)

I review the best apps I’ve used to take notes on my Chromebook based on my personal experience using many different apps.

Let’s roll!

Last updated: 1/25/20. This list is constantly updated for accuracy.

Are you an avid note-taker?

If you need to take notes, you need something that’s fast, efficient, and doesn’t take a user’s manual to learn how to use.

Being an avid Chromebook user after making the switch from Windows, I’ve played around with many different apps for taking notes, and this list is the 3 best apps I’ve found to work for me so far for my projects.

I use my Chromebook as my main research and text editing machine. So I’ve been through quite a few different free and paid extensions advertised to be the “best” for taking notes.

Keep in mind that different people have different workflows. What works for me may not work for you.

Therefore, be sure to read a little about each app before you install it on your Chromebook.

Of course, you can install all of them to test them out.

My workflow is pretty much research. I do the majority of my work on my Chromebook, and it mainly consists of researching stuff around the web, clipping articles, pictures, and other tidbits, then presenting it in a chart.

From that chart, I can take glances at what I need and then work it into my…work. If this sounds like you, then you’ll probably like these apps.

These apps should be suitable if you’re just looking for a good note-taking app that just works. Whether you’re a student, professional, or casual user, these apps should all do the job.

Anyway, let’s get on with the list.

Best note-taking app #1: Evernote

Evernote is one of the most popular note-taking apps on Chromebook. It has all the features you could want in a notepad.

Evernote takes the cake because it just works. It has more than you need for a basic noting app, along with everything you could want.

I’m pretty sure you’ve at least heard of this app before. When I first started using Evernote, I hated it. But that’s because I was doing it wrong. Over time, I actually got really efficient with the app.

It offers, to-do lists, reminders, general notes, voice notes, and even works across all your devices. Evernote basic is a free app, but it also has a premium paid version. To be honest, if you’re just in need of a basic app, the free version works wonders.

You can clip pretty much anything on the web- pictures, videos, text, articles, and more. You can save them into notes and notebooks to organize them.

The search function is also amazing. It even works for images. If you save a picture with text or numbers, you can search for it. You can even take notes by your pen or stylus if you have one, or just your finger.

Evernote syncs across all your devices, and directly from their website as well. You can access your notes as long as you have an account.

The design and UI are intuitive and easy to use. You’ll be taking your first note right away. The learning curve is super easy and you can pretty much do everything you need.

Best note-taking app #2: Google Keep

Google Keep is one of the best note-taking apps on Chromebook.

Google Keep is obviously made by Google, and it’s probably one of the best “made by Google” apps I’ve used thus far.

It works very similarly to Evernote in the way that you can save pretty much anything you find online- pictures, text, URLs, etc. You can add labels and notes to the stuff we save and add “tags” to label your content for easy retrieval.

It also has voice input, just like Evernote. You can snap pictures if you grab the app on your phone as well.

Everything you save from the web will be saved into your Google Keep. It also syncs across all your devices for easy access, whether you have Android or Apple. You can also go to keep.google.com.

What I especially like about Google Keep is that you can prioritize important tasks by dragging them up or down, and label them in whatever color.

I put most important tasks at the top of a list and label it a bright color- such as orange. Lower priority tasks go to the bottom with a darker color, such as green.

Another handy feature is that you can set alerts to remind yourself to do something and even set them by location. Google Keep has the advantage over Evernote in this case. But as for features, Evernote has more.

It really depends on what you’re using your notes for. It also runs offline on Chrome and will update your Keep when you regain Internet access.

Pros:

Free

Alerts come in handy

Tag your notes

Auto-sync to Google Keep

Cons:

Lacks some features that Evernote has, but perfect for basic note-taking

Best note-taking app #3: Memo Notepad

Memo Notepad is one of the most basic note-taking apps. Easy to use. Simple. Clean.

If you’re looking for a very, very simple notepad to take notes, this is it.

Memo Notepad lacks many features that Keep and Evernote have, but it does what a notepad should do- take notes. Memo Notepad is a super easy and simple way to take notes on your Chromebook.

Notes are saved to your laptop and can sync via the built-in cloud service as well.

The layout is a basic standard piece of paper on a wooden background. I have to say, it’s the most visually-pleasing out of all three note-taking apps I reviewed. It’s basic, clean, and simple.

The functionality of it is easy enough- you write notes, and it takes notes. That’s it. You can search, trash, or write new notes. You can use it to make to-do lists, journals, drafts, or write notes about anything.

Memo Note runs offline as well and will run without any Internet connection and will automatically sync when you get back online. You can search, read, and write notes while you’re offline as well. You can also visit their website to access your notes.

The search function also works really well. You can also access whatever you’re searching for as you type. Memo Note works on all devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Chromebooks.

Honorable Mention: OneNote Web Clipper

It’s developed by Microsoft, so it’s a direct competitor to other apps like Evernote and Google Keep, so you can expect premium features if this is the medium that’ll represent their brand.

After trying it out for a few days, I found that it’s very easy and intuitive to use. It works just like Evernote except for a much more simplified experience.

It lets you clip pretty much anything from the web, including:

Images

PDFs

Videos

Articles

Products

Recipes

Entire page

Selection of the page

Visual bookmark of a page

After you’ve clipped your stuff, you can access it across all your devices- whether it be a phone, computer, laptop, or even your tablet.

It also syncs with their cloud and downloads everything so you can access and read your notes offline. You don’t need an active connection to the Internet after you’ve downloaded your stuff.

This is useful for making quick snapshots or “saves” of random articles you come across. For example, you could snap this page to remind yourself later to check out these apps!

One thing that OneNote focuses on is eliminating distractions and just letting you save the good stuff. It advertises that it won’t clip all the useless junk that’s often included in articles like advertisements and navigational buttons. It just clips the stuff that you actually want to clip.

After using it for a few days, it does this pretty well. Sometimes the occasional ad will get caught in with your notes and other times it seems to ignore the stuff you actually want to save- so it’s a double-edged sword. It’s weird but you just need to re-clip or delete the excess to take care of it. No biggie.

You can also perform a whole bunch of useful and handy actions as well. Adjusting the font, highlighting text, and even adding a note to your note before you clip it is also plain and simple.

The best part about OneNote is the ability to clip the entire page or just a section. It’s super easy!

All you need to do is just add “regions” to the page and you can clip them all at once. You choose what type of clipping it is and save it to a custom folder you’ve created (or to the default ones that are premade).

I think OneNote is an excellent alternative to Evernote. If you’re happy with Evernote, OneNote makes a great alternative note-taking app that’s completely free to use.

It’s fast, easy-to-use, minimalist, and also eliminates all the noise from the stuff you want to save.

I’ll be using it on my desktop with Chrome to clip random funnies and cool things from the web as I already have Evernote and have a whole bunch of stuff saved into it already (and I’m too lazy to import all of it into OneNote).

But OneNote will still come in handy for the other stuff I want to save.

About Andy Z.

Andy is a casual-hardcore Chrome OS fan and contributes to the site regularly. He likes computers, tech, sports cars, videogames, and of course, Chromebooks. Thinker. Introvert. Geek. You can find him on Twitter (@platytech), or send him an email (platy@platypusplatypus.com).

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GUEST

Sanaa

heyyyyyyyy

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1 month ago

GUEST

Alex

Have you tried INKredible? I am a student & put together class reviews. I can import pictures & draw on them. Create different types of paper backgrounds for note taking or drawing, different pen types, share pages or whole documents, & palm rejection. They even have grid paper & music paper. I can also turn power point presentations into PDFs & import them in for annotating in lecture. I am currently looking to upgrade my device to have better battery life while taking notes in class. I contacted INKredible support & they where very helpful & suggested a few options.

I’ve actually never gotten around to trying OneNote because I heard it wasn’t that great from colleagues. But I just took a look at it and it seems pretty awesome. I’m going to check it out and post a little blurb about it here regarding my experiences in a bit.

Thanks again!

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2 years ago

GUEST

Jay

What about Simplenote.com? I love it, what it lacks, is offline availability.

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